


Goodbye

by jesuiscalmedammit



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28861407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesuiscalmedammit/pseuds/jesuiscalmedammit
Summary: Years after saying goodbye, Jim's stepsister joined the crew of the USS Enterprise for three months to work with Bones. Though the doctor didn't like the idea at first, he eventually grew to like her, and figuring out what to do once it was time for her to leave was harder than he'd expected.
Relationships: Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This is something I originally wrote in 2009. Yeah, a long time ago. I missed this story and the poor thing deserved better... So... here we go. I'll try to make things right.

James T. Kirk had just made some very serious decisions in the middle of the night: in a matter of hours, he would join Starfleet. By the time he arrived to the backyard of their house, hoping he wouldn’t throw up on her mother’s beloved flower bed as he’d done a few weeks earlier, it was already around four in the morning. This meant he only had four hours until departure. Four short hours to pack his most important things and say goodbye to his family. He was standing under one of the windows, wondering if the girl living in that room was awake at this time or not. Sighing, he decided not to care and climbed up to the window, opening it with ease when he reached it.

“What the hell?” came a familiar voice from the bed as his feet landed on the floor with a heavy thud.

Jim only smirked at her reaction and turned on the lights, although he immediately regretted it since the bright light burned his eyes. The girl who was now sitting in her bed was only a year younger than him, with brown hair and light brown eyes. The lack of physical resemblance made it quite obvious for people outside the family and their circle of friends that they weren’t genetically related, only stepsiblings thanks to the marriage of their parents.

Even though Jim’s dislike for his stepfather was not only well-known but mutual as well, Izzy had always been the only person who managed to bring a positive change in their lives. On the bright side she, much like his mother, didn’t consider him a troublemaker. Well, at least they both assumed he was a bit more than that. This was probably the only reason why he hadn’t moved out of the house yet.

“Damn it, Tiberius, how many times do I need to tell you to use the door?” she asked angrily, trying to keep her voice down so they wouldn’t wake up their parents. It’d happened once and the consequences weren’t exactly pleasant, mostly thanks to her father.

“And how many times do I need to tell you to stop calling me Tiberius?” Jim asked with a shrug before sitting on the edge of her bed. “You have to help me, doc,” he said with a grin, pointing at his wounded face. He had washed off most of the blood before leaving the bar, but he had a feeling it didn’t help much.

“I'm not a doctor yet,” Izzy noted quietly, letting out a tired sigh as she took a closer look at the injuries. “You’re gonna be fine, I only have to clean the wounds then you’re free to go.” After flashing a reassuring smile at him she stood up and disappeared in the bathroom for a while. “Feel like telling me what happened to you this time?” she asked once she returned and sat down next to him with her first aid kit.

Jim let out a quiet groan as he buried his face in his palms. As it turned out, it wasn’t the smartest idea because he accidentally touched one of the wounds and it hurt like hell. “I got into a little fight with a few Starfleet recruits in a bar,” he explained calmly while Izzy started to wash off the remaining blood from his face.

“Why I’m not surprised,” the brunette remarked sarcastically, grabbing the antiseptic. “Okay, I know you’ve already heard that from me before, but it’s going to sting.”

He barely winced as she cleaned the wounds. They had been through this so many times over the years that his body sort of got used to the pain this process caused. That was obviously a fair price to pay for stupidity. What he had to decide now was how and when to tell her about the decision he had made not long ago. Moving to San Francisco didn’t only affect his mother, but Izzy as well. Maybe it was just like removing a band-aid: the faster you tear it down, the less it hurts. “I’ll join Starfleet in the morning,” he suddenly announced, his eyes locked on his shoes.

The girl’s eyes grew wide in surprise and from shock. “You will what?”

He laughed quietly, already thinking about how his mother will react. “That’s right. I talked to Captain Pike after this last fight and… I don’t know. He hasn’t met me before yet he believes in me, and also said I could be a captain and have my own ship in eight years,” he told her. “He also talked about my father. About the twelve minutes he’d spent as the captain of the USS Kelvin and how he’d saved 800 people, including me and mom,” he added, much quieter this time.

“Hey, I’m sure your father would be proud of you,” Izzy told him with a small smile, reassuringly putting a hand on his. But Jim knew it was only an act, because behind that smile he saw her sadness. It’s not like he wouldn’t miss her too. “And Winona will be proud as well,” she spoke up again. “By the way, when will you tell her?”

“In the morning, shortly before I leave.”

“You’re just kidding me, right?” Izzy asked angrily, punching his arm as hard as she could. “She deserves more than a few minutes in the morning. Even if you come home to visit every now and then, at the end of the day you’ll be gone for years,” she pointed out firmly, jumping off the bed. “I’ll wake her up and send her to the living room.”

Jim took a deep breath and stood up as well, clearing his throat to make her stop before she opened the door. “What about your father?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about him. This move of yours will shut him up for a while,” the girl said with a smile. “Zip up your jacket,” she added, pointing at his shirt. “Winona would be freaked out if she saw your bloody shirt.”

Jim looked down at her with a smile as he pulled up the zipper just like she’d told him. On his way home from the bar, when he’d made up his mind about the whole thing, he didn’t think saying goodbye would be so hard. Really, what would he do if he got into another fight? Was he supposed to see a normal doctor, or should he learn how to stich himself up in the next few hours? “I’ll miss you, Izzy,” he admitted after a while, breaking the comfortable silence that’d fallen between them.

“I’ll miss you, too, James. You’re gonna be a great captain one day,” she said before hugging him tightly. “Try not to get into trouble,” she added with a small chuckle.

“I can’t promise anything,” Jim said with a short laugh while he let go of her. “You know, you should join Starfleet as a doctor, ” he said, but left the room before she could even answer.

Downstairs the conversation with his mother and stepfather went surprisingly smoothly. Though his mother–just as he’d expected–cried upon hearing the news, she also told him through her tears how happy she was that he made this decision. This, of course, surprised Jim. Part of him thought she would be against it, mostly due to what’d happened to his father when he was born. But she was happy, and that day this was the most important thing for him. Knowing she was supporting him wholeheartedly made it a lot easier to aboard the shuttle in the morning.

Screw Starfleet: he'll get his own ship sooner than eight years to make his mother proud.


	2. Chapter 2

If you’re planning to ruin someone’s day by showing up at their place uninvited in the early morning and waking them up, it’s a good idea to bring breakfast and coffee as an apology for waking them then wait for said person to invite you in. On the other hand, it’s a quite bad idea to bang loudly on the door then begin a conversation with a question, not worrying about whether or not the other person is happy to see you in the first place.

“Do you have any plans for this summer?”

It was around eight in the morning on Sunday, and Izzy had just arrived home an hour ago following a really long and eventful 24-hour shift at Starfleet Medical. Because of this, it was perfectly understandable that she was blinking at him with cloudy eyes for several moments before quietly cursing because of the lack of old-school doors she could have slammed in Jim’s face. “Do you have any idea what time is it?” she asked slowly, leaning against the doorframe.

Her brother quickly glanced at his watch before looking back at the brunette. “7:58. Why?” he asked innocently while Izzy narrowed her eyes to give him a threatening look. The young captain let out a sigh and spoke up again. “So, back to my question: do you have any plans?”

Without answering his question, Izzy took a step back and pushed a button to close the door, and the next thing she heard was Jim speaking up again on the other side. “Izzy, please,” he pleaded and she could tell he was giving the door the puppy eyes in case she looked at the camera feed. At first, she simply wanted to ignore him, but then she quickly changed her mind and reopened the door. “Okay, I’m really sorry for waking you up. Let’s give it another shot,” Jim said, giving her an apologetic look.

“Come in, you idiot,” she muttered angrily, stepping aside so he could go in. “Why do you want to know if I have any plans for the summer?”

“Because I think I know where you’ll spend the next three months,” he replied while he occupied the couch. Izzy gave him a quizzical look as she sat in the armchair next to him. “On the USS Enterprise. We’re going on a longer mission with a few stops and it would be perfect for you, trust me.”

It took her a few long seconds to process this small amount of information. Three months aboard the USS Enterprise, the fleet’s flagship. “I don’t think it would be the best idea for me to spend the summer off-planet. Not now at least,” she told him.

“What difference would it make if you spent every day at the hospital, working so many hours each day? You should grab this chance and work on Starfleet’s flagship along with the fleet’s newest heroes. Others would kill for this opportunity,” Jim added with a playful smile, but she didn’t say anything in response. “Nothing will happen to your mom while you’re gone, okay?”

“You can’t know that.”

“Look, call your father, tell him about this plan, and ask him. I’m sure he would say the exact same thing.”

Izzy let out a long sigh, put her legs on the coffee table, and leaned back in the chair. She knew he was right. Not to mention she would work with the famous Dr. Leonard McCoy. “Alright, get out of here, please, and let me sleep,” she said, slightly turning to her side.

“Is that a yes?” Jim asked as he stood up. When she let out a quiet ‘ _mmmhm_ ’ sound, he nodded. “Good. Now, to convince you I didn’t mean to be rude, I’ll make you some coffee and breakfast. How does that sound?”

“Coffee sounds good, but breakfast,” the young doctor began, her voice fading at the end as she looked at him with an unsure look in her eyes. “No, don’t do that. The last time you tried to cook something, the project ended with food poisoning. I’d rather not do that again.”

Jim laughed at the memory and couldn’t help but agree with a nod. “Fair enough. Okay, new plan. I make some coffee, you get ready, then we’ll eat somewhere nearby. Better?”

“Much better,” Izzy replied as she curled up into a ball in the armchair and quickly fell asleep again.

“Typical,” he muttered as he went to the kitchen to make some coffee for himself.


	3. Chapter 3

It was time. The USS Enterprise was about to leave Starbase 1 for another mission and Jim couldn’t be happier. He always loved that, the thrill of leaving Earth on this ship, _his_ ship, and every time he wished his father was still alive to see how far he’s come. But this time was different. This time he had his sister on board and she was going to travel with them in the next three months. Having family around would make things easier, at least that’s what his mother had told him when he called her with the news.

Unable to contain his good mood, he kept talking to Bones about how Izzy would probably make his life miserable every now and then, but his friend wasn’t listening apparently. If he had to guess, Jim would have said he was probably thinking about the things that could possibly kill them in space during the mission as he stood next to him on the bridge with his arms crossed over his chest. Jim let out a quiet chuckle while he shook his head, then went on as if nothing happened.

“Are you done?” Bones suddenly asked impatiently, looking over at the captain who only glanced at him for a moment with a mischievous smirk. “Look, I understand that you’re excited and everything, but you’re the captain of the USS Enterprise. There are plenty of things you should do instead of talking about someone who will spend months aboard the ship,” he said in a tired voice. “Not to mention Sulu’s only waiting for your orders,” he added, pointing at the helmsman.

“Take us out, Mr. Sulu,” Jim gave out the order then looked back at the doctor as he sympathetically patted his shoulder. “Oh, I know the only reason why you’re not happy about her arrival is that she will follow you around all the time,” he said, faking a painful expression. The arrival of Izzy meant Bones had a duckling from now on, someone who would follow him wherever he went. Knowing him, only the thought tired him out mentally. “But trust me, she’d do anything to make you happy,” Jim added.

The doctor’s eyes grew wide in surprise. The way Jim told him that kicked his mind into overdrive, and his imagination was about to get out of control. He quickly shook his head to dismiss the thoughts. “What does that supposed to mean?” he inquired.

“You’ll see, Bones,” was all he said in a tone that made it obvious he was merely testing his friend’s patience.

“There might be a day when I throw you off this ship myself, you know,” Bones noted, trying hard not to yell at the captain who was only laughing at his reaction as they left the bridge. “So how come I’ve never met your sister? She’s been in San Francisco for about a year yet all I know is that the two of you are close and you call her Izzy. You never told me her full name or showed me a picture of her.”

“And there’s a good reason for that.” When the doctor gave him a questioning look, Jim shrugged. “I may be a little overprotective when it comes to her. The last thing I needed was her falling for your Southern charm instead of focusing on her job and studies,” Jim explained.

“It’s not like I’d–”

The doctor fell silent when they noticed Spock not far from them with Izzy on his side. “Dr. Krause, this way, please,” he said in his usual, polite way.

“Come on, Bones, she won’t bite you,” Jim told him quietly as they were getting closer.

“You know that’s funny; someone said the same thing about my ex-wife,” he replied sarcastically. The captain gave him a disapproving look that could be also translated as it's not like you're gonna marry her.

When Izzy’s eyes fell on them, her lips curled into a wide smile and she immediately ran over to Jim to pull him into a hug. “I can’t believe I’m here!” she said excitedly.

Jim quickly peeled her off himself then turned her around so they were now facing Bones. “I’m sure you’re my resident, Izzy,” he said as he extended his hand. “I’m Dr. Leonard McCoy, the chief medical officer of the USS Enterprise. You’ll be working with me in the next three months,” he said flatly.

“Dr. Isabella Krause, nice to _finally_ meet you,” she said, quickly glancing at her brother with a pointed look.

“Fangirl,” Jim suddenly whispered to her.

“Shut up, Tiberius,” she hissed without hesitation.

After Spock excused himself and left, Bones gave the two a disapproving look and rolled his eyes. But Jim decided to ignore him for now and he restarted his conversation with the young woman. “How’s your mother?” he asked quietly.

A sad smile appeared on Izzy’s lips. “She’s gonna be fine for now. At least I hope there won’t be any problems. Dad promised to call me if something happened,” she added as she casually leaned against a wall. “By the way, dad asked me to tell you that he’s proud of you.”

“He’s what now?”

“You heard me,” Izzy nodded, letting out a quiet chuckle. “He finally accepted the fact that, after all, you are good for something. He just... You know, didn’t want to get all mushy when you talked to them. Surprising, isn’t it?” she asked, smoothing out a non-existent wrinkle on her blue uniform.

Jim’s steel blue eyes were fixed on her light brown ones for a few moments while he processed her words. “Yeah, that’s surprising,” he agreed with a suspicious look in his eyes. “You only made up the last part, didn’t you?” he asked, though he already knew the answer. Izzy nodded, flashing a sheepish smile at him as she massaged the back of her neck.

“I really don’t want to destroy this family moment, kids, but you’ll have plenty of time to talk later,” Bones walked up to them, then he turned to Izzy. “We should go to the med bay. I’ll show you everything there so you won’t get lost in the future,” he said. “I hope,” he added after a short pause.

“Alright.” The brunette’s gaze shifted from the doctor to the captain, and she gave him an almost scared look.

Bones noticed it and quickly shook his head. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you. We don’t want to scare you away, do we?” he asked with a small laugh. “Come on,” he said then walked towards the med bay with Izzy, leaving a smiling Kirk behind.

Bones wondered how he should bring it up. Growing up as an only child had both its advantages and disadvantages. Not having a sibling sometimes made him crave the relationship he saw some of his friends had with their own. From what he’d heard before and what he witnessed a few minutes earlier was exactly what he always missed.

“You two seem to be really close,” Bones suddenly spoke up as they entered the med bay. Izzy looked over at him, chuckling quietly, but she remained silent in the end. “Am I wrong?” he asked curiously after a short pause.

The brunette shook her head in response, thinking about what to say. “No, you are absolutely right, doctor,” was all she said after the silence, emphasizing the word doctor.

He showed her the main areas of med bay, informing her about the size of the medical team and the main protocols. But before he could begin the next chapter of the introductory speech, a cheerful voice interrupted them.

“Good morning,” said a young woman with long, blond hair. “You must be our new test resident,” she added, extending a hand. “I’m Christine Chapel.”

“Isabella Krause,” the young doctor replied with a smile, shaking her hand. “But please, call me Izzy.”

The nurse chuckled. “I hope you can help make him stop acting like a grumpy old man all the time,” she said, earning a questioning look from Izzy and a threatening one from Bones. “All right, I got it. We’ll continue this later,” she said and waltzed out of med bay.

Slowly shaking his head and massaging the bridge of his nose, Bones broke the silence. “Nurse Chapel is kind of my right hand. She’s really good at her job, so you don’t have to worry about her carefree behavior,” he said. “By the way, you can call me Bones,” he told her casually with a small smile, sitting on one of the beds. Since she was Jim’s stepsister, he hoped they could leave formalities.

She gave him a curious look as she sat on the other end of the bed, a strange smile playing on her lips. “What about Leonard?” she asked curiously, looking in his eyes again.

“Just call me Bones, _Isabella_ ,” he said reassuringly, hoping it wouldn’t be a problem for her to use his nickname. The other doctors and the nurses on the ship rarely called him Bones since he’d become the chief medical officer of the USS Enterprise.

“No, thank you, Leonard is really good,” she said cheerfully. “And please, call me Izzy,” she added.

Bones took a deep breath, keeping eye contact with her. “All right, I’ll call you Izzy if you’ll call me Bones from now on,” he stated.

“Oh, come on,” she laughed, subconsciously putting her hand on his. When she realized her mistake, she immediately pulled it away with an apologetic look on her face.

For a short second, he was thinking about reaching for her hand but decided against it. What was going on with him? There was a small voice in the back of his mind telling him there was something he’d forgotten, something important. Did they somehow know each other from the hospital? No, he would remember. Probably.

Once he cleared his throat, he went on. “No, no. Think about it: if there is, for example, a medical emergency and you have to shout my name, Leonard is too long,” Bones explained, smiling friendly at her.

“You're right. Still–” she started, but Bones interrupted her.

“No still, dammit,” he said angrily. “You’re acting like Jim and that’s really annoying, you know.”

Shaking her head, Izzy shrugged in response. “What can I say? We grew up together. But fine, I’ll call you Bones if that’s what makes you happy,” she said quickly. Bones nodded and put a small scanner in front of her. “Is that mine?” she asked, picking it up.

“Yes. I want you to take it everywhere you go,” he ordered, giving her another device. “Also, here’s a PADD in case you need to see a patient’s medical files.” Bones watched as her face lit up like a Christmas tree, and this made him smile too. Unlike Jim, she was apparently always serious when it came to her job, and he truly appreciated it.

“Is there anything else I should know?” she asked eagerly.

The doctor looked around the intensive care unit they were in and thought for a moment. “Well, I think you already know the rest of the medical equipment,” Bones started and she nodded in response. “Obviously my office is also located in the med bay,” he said.

“Okay, I think I got it,” Izzy chirped happily then hesitated. “Can I ask you a question?” Bones nodded without thinking. “Why did you join Starfleet if you have aviophobia?” she asked, trying to hold back a laugh.

Bones’ eyes darkened as he looked at the young doctor. “Jim told you,” he stated with a tired sigh.

“Of course he did. We tell almost everything to each other,” she replied casually with a shrug. As unsurprising as it was, Bones still reminded himself to be careful around these two in the future. “When you two met on that shuttle, the first thing you told him was something like I may throw up on you. I wonder if you would still be friends if you had actually thrown up on him," she said, finally freely laughing at him.

“Hey, aviophobia is not funny. Stop laughing,” he warned her.

“Sorry, I know it’s not funny,” she said now that she managed to calm down. “Men often love to act like they are not afraid of anything. And, you know, if you meet one who admits he has a phobia then it’s–”

“Ridiculous.”

“No, it’s kind of cute,” she said.

“Cute?”

“Yes.”

"So you really think it’s cute if a man admits that he’s afraid of dying in something that flies?” Bones asked in disbelief.

“Yes,” she nodded with a bright smile on her face.

“You’re strange. For some reason, I thought most women preferred men who are not afraid of anything. Or if they are, at least they don’t show it.”

“That’s a stupid stereotype. Prince Charming is a handsome guy with blond hair, blue eyes, he’s brave, strong, romantic and faithful, and yes, he has a white horse,” she began to explain. “Look at James, for example. Handsome? Check. Blond hair? Check. Blue eyes? Check. Brave and strong? Check. Romantic and faithful? He’s not even close, since he’s a real womanizer. This goes for almost all the Prince Charming-looking guys in the world. No one’s perfect,” Izzy finished her little speech with a shrug.

“Wow,” was all Bones managed to say, looking into her light brown eyes. It had been a while since he’d last heard a woman speak so honestly. “Now that I heard it like that… I have to admit you might be right,” he said.

Izzy chuckled nervously as she massaged the back of her neck. “Well, of course I’m right,” she said. “Hey, don’t you wanna have breakfast with me tomorrow? I was about to ask James and Spock if they would like to join me.”

After a short pause, while he was thinking about the chances of the green-blooded hobgoblin not being present the next morning, he replied. “Sounds good,” he said with a nod. Izzy then left to find Nurse Chapel and once he was left alone, Bones let out a long, tired sigh as he laid back on the bed with his arms behind his head. “Why do I have a feeling she’ll be the death of me one day?” he asked quietly from himself.


End file.
